Newroz, the Kurdish festival of resistance and renewal, is being marked today in Istanbul with one of the largest celebrations in the region. Istanbul, home to what is believed to be over four million Kurds, is once again a powerful stage for the Newroz of Freedom.
People have gathered in their hundreds of thousands, waving Kurdish colours and chanting slogans for peace and justice. The atmosphere surged after the ceremonial fire was lit, followed by a stirring performance from the band Xwezîya Azadî. The crowd erupted in chants of Jin Jiyan Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom), signalling a strong yearning for freedom and collective dignity.
After some short speeches, the moderator asked the masses to be silent.
Abdullah Öcalan’s voice was played over the sound system, in a one-minute excerpt in Turkish from a late 1990s Newroz message celebrating the spirit of peace and resistance. The audience listened in stillness before erupting once again into applause and slogans.
Speeches are expected from pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan, veteran Kurdish politician and former Mayor of Diyarbakır Gültan Kışanak and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, known for his role in the İmralı shuttle delegation, later in the day.
This year’s celebration also carries a symbolic political meaning: it comes as a public embrace of the recent call by imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, shared by his legal team on 27 February, for a democratic peace-oriented society. The energy of the crowd reflects hope and resistance, as concerns grow around the political targeting of Istanbul’s opposition party mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
